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8/5/2020
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by and welcome to the Cedar Fair Entertainment Company 2020 second quarter earnings call. At this time, all lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. And after the speaker's remarks, there will be a question and answer session. If you'd like to ask a question during the session, please press star followed by the number one on your telephone keypad. If you need operator assistance during the call, please press star and then zero. I'd now like to turn the call over to Michael Russell, Corporate Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, James, and good morning, everybody. Welcome to our 2020 Second Quarter Earnings Conference Call. Earlier this morning, we distributed via wire service our earnings press release, a copy of which is available under the News tab of our investors' website at ir.cedarfair.com. On the call with me this morning are Richard Zimmerman, Cedar Fair President and CEO, and Brian Witherow, our Executive Vice President and CFO. Before we begin, I need to remind you that comments made during this call will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements may involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from those described in such statements. For a more detailed discussion of these risks, you may refer to the company's filings with the FCC. In compliance with the FCC's Regulation FD, this webcast is being made available to the media and the general public, as well as analysts and investors. Because the webcast is open to all constituents and prior notification has been widely and unselectively disseminated, all content on this call will be considered fully disclosed. With that, I would like to hand it over to our CEO, Richard Zimmerman. Richard?
Thank you, Michael, and thanks to everyone for joining us this morning. I want to start this call by wishing all of you well, and I hope that you and your families are safe and adjusting to what feels like a new normal. We are now more than five months into the pandemic, and while none of us have a crystal ball to know where and when this will end, I couldn't be prouder of how our teams have come together and adapted to the challenges at hand. Seeing how we have responded over the past several months gives me confidence that Cedar Fair will emerge from this crisis an even stronger company than before. On the call today, I will focus my remarks and provide more details on three specific areas. First, the progress we have made to date, including the reopening of parks and the ability of our team to adapt to an uncertain environment and a shifting marketplace. Second, the learnings and insights we've gathered to date that will better position us to address the effects of the pandemic moving forward, including trends we are seeing in our business. And finally, our near-term outlook for the business, including a discussion around the strategies and initiatives we are working on to ensure we emerge from this crisis stronger and better positioned for growth. Like others in our space and in adjacent industries, Cedar Fair has managed through this unprecedented period with little visibility for what comes next. This has challenged our teams to react quickly and responsibly and to develop contingency plans under multiple scenarios. To put things in perspective and to acknowledge our teams for their outstanding work, recall that in January, we kicked off the year with a strategy to build upon the momentum and successes of a record 2019 season. That all changed before the close of the first quarter when we found ourselves facing unforeseen challenges that, although we were well-equipped to handle, quickly caused us to shift our focus from playing offense and executing our long-term growth initiatives to playing defense and implementing near-term countermeasures. These efforts included closing or suspending the opening of our parks on March 14th in response to the pandemic and government mandates, immediately addressing liquidity and cash flow concerns, which we accomplished through our April bond financing and and the implementation of extensive cost-saving measures aimed at minimizing our cash burn rate. And most importantly, maintaining a strong connection to our guests during this period of disruption, including our highly valued season pass holders, which we've successfully accomplished through ongoing proactive communication and the extension of 2020 season pass benefits and privileges through the 2021 season. These efforts have been successful in minimizing our cash burn rate from operations. After unwinding operations and a large portion of our capital projects in April, we have limited our average cash burn rate since May to approximately $35 million per month, in line with the average $30 million to $40 million per month that we projected on our last earnings call. Since our last earnings call in early May, Our teams have identified and assessed the pandemic's ongoing impact on our business, developed plans to reopen parks where restrictions have been lifted, and provided guests in those markets with the best entertainment product possible within the recommended guidelines. We have worked closely with state and local officials, health experts, and others in our industry to develop and implement best in class health and safety procedures and protocols to protect the well-being of our associates and our guests. We have also developed strategies and implemented new procedures to address COVID-related risk, including the use of contactless temperature and security screening, expanded use of mobile food ordering and cashless transactions, and the temporary use of a reservation system to manage initial demand issues upon reopening. While pleased we have been able to reopen seven of our 13 properties thus far, including two of our four largest parks, Cedar Point and Kings Island, Late yesterday, we announced four parks, California's Great America, Carowinds, Kings Dominion, and Valley Fair, will remain closed for the 2020 season. We had previously announced that our separately gated water parks, Cedar Point Shores and Knott's Soak City, would remain closed in 2020 as well. While disappointed that we have had to make these decisions, the lack of visibility into when restrictions would be lifted in those markets would combined with the diminishing number of potential operating days remaining, has eliminated our ability to reopen and profitably operate these four parks in 2020. We continue to monitor and evaluate conditions related to Canada's Wonderland and Knott's Ferry Farm, our other major parks that, with a little luck, could be open yet this year. Before I ask Brian to review second quarter results, I want to share briefly what we've seen and learned through this difficult period and how those takeaways will benefit us moving forward. First, while our parks were met with solid demand upon reopening, the ongoing uncertainty around the pandemic and recent spikes in coronavirus cases across the country has had a more negative impact on attendance than we originally anticipated. Forecasting future attendance in such a dynamic and uncertain environment is very difficult. However, Based on current trends, we expect daily attendance to be approximately 20-25% of historical levels for the balance of the year. Because of that, we recently adjusted park operating calendars, reducing the number of operating days and hours over the balance of the season to be more consistent with those trends. These changes will help us more efficiently manage our seasonal labor costs and resources and remain profitable, all while ensuring a best-day experience for our guests. Second, we have seen silver linings emerge from every business disruption we've ever dealt with. This one, which we continue to battle daily, has proved to be deeper and more multidimensional in scope, given the manner with which it has affected every aspect of our company. Consequently, our efforts to counteract those effects have been far more extensive as well. The disruption in our business has forced a detailed review of our operating cost structure and organizational design that has already identified opportunities for efficiencies. Not only will we benefit over the long term from the incremental cost savings and system efficiencies uncovered during our review, but our broad-based examination in many areas of the business affirmed the strength of our internal decision-making processes. Although the effects of the pandemic may be felt for some time to come, What we have discovered during its disruption gives us confidence we will return to normalized operations stronger and better prepared for growth than before. And finally, our pre-COVID success demonstrated that we have the strongest team of professionals in the industry running this business. Yet watching them manage through a crisis of this magnitude sheds a brighter light on just how talented they really are. Over the last two quarters, our teams not only have demonstrated their competencies with analysis, foresight, and planning, but they have maintained a long-term perspective on the business while carrying out several difficult but necessary near-term decisions. While facing a complete shutdown of our parks, our teams pursued opportunities to open our adjacent properties where possible, including Hotel Breakers and our luxury RV park, Lighthouse Point, both welcoming guests to the Cedar Point Beach weeks before the gates opened at Cedar Point itself. At Knott's Berry Farm, we opened its California marketplace, including Mrs. Knott's Chicken Dinner Restaurant, and introduced the Taste of Calico, a new limited-time special outdoor food and merchandise event, which we extended after quickly selling out its originally scheduled calendar. New events like the Taste of Calico reflect how we are adapting to this changing market. Staying connected with our guests in new and creative ways is critical to the long-term success of the company and also creates opportunities to further strengthen our regional brands. As CEO, I'm quite proud of our entire organization for its steadfast determination and dedication, especially since we are potentially facing a lengthy recovery. I'll return in a few minutes to conclude my remarks, but first, I'll ask Brian to review our financial results. Brian?
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